registering in the online appeal site€¦ · once you have completed the registration process in...

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REGISTERING IN THE ONLINE APPEAL SITE On your browser of choice, type the online appeal URL as follows:

https://propertytaxfilings.cookcountyil.gov/

If you have never used the Cook County online appeal application before or have yet to register, please click on the New User? Create an account link in the home page to register.

Once you have clicked, you will be routed to the Account Registration page to register.


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Please enter a valid email address and create an 8-character minimum, case sensitive password. Please note that registration and filing notifications will be sent to account registration email and not any other email addresses that CCAO may have on record.

Click Register.

You will receive a message that your account has been created; please check the email address you used for registration for instructions on how to complete the registration process.

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In your email inbox, open the Active Your Account email sent by [email protected]. If you do not see this email in your inbox, please check your Spam folder.

Once the Active Your Account email has been opened, click on the link or copy and paste the URL into the address bar of your browser to complete the registration process.

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You will be rerouted back to the online appeal application and you should see a message confirming that your account has been activated. You can now login and submit an online appeal filing!

NAVIGATING THE ONLINE APPEAL SITE Once you have completed the registration process in the online appeal site, you will be able to log into the online appeal application at any time.

Enter the online appeal application URL into your browser of choice and hit enter.



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In the home page, you will be able to click on the following tabs within the online appeal application:

Available Filings - Filer can view and select from the different filing types available for online submittal via the online appeal application.

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Available Filings – Appeal Filing Tabs

All appeal filings will have the same tabs within the filing, the only exception being Residential Appeal Filing due to available property characteristics for that property type.

Activity Window Filer can review information on the primary subject PIN, the relevant Township’s Open/Close dates, acknowledgement of reading and understanding the town’s open/close schedule and the CCAO Official Rules for Appeal (link provided).

Verify Parcel Filer can review the primary subject PIN and property location; filer will also receive an error message if they are in the wrong filing form type based on the PIN’s classification code. If the Subject PIN has been issued a Real Property Income and Expense (RPIE) code, the code will also appear in this page.

Primary PIN Filer can request a Certificate of Error (CoE) on the primary subject PIN. If any of the boxes are selected for the available CoE years, the filer will be required to submit a CoE form and documentation in support of their CoE request prior to clicking Submit at the end of the filing.

Additional PINs Filer can add additional related PINs, as defined by the CCAO Appeal Rules, in the provided grid. Filer will also be able to request a CoE on the additional PINs.

Filer Filer can indicate if they are filing as a pro se filer or whether they are filing as an authorized attorney or tax representative. If the filer is an attorney or tax representative, they must have an active code registered with either the Cook Board of Review or Assessor’s Office. They will also be required to upload an executed Attorney Authorization Form at the time of appeal submittal.

Property Characteristics Filer can update property characteristics that are either incorrect or need to be updated for their Residential property.

Appeal Application Filer can indicate the reason for their appeal and provide a brief explanation as to the rational for their appeal. A field check can also be requested in this tab.

Attachments Filer can upload and attach required and/or supporting documentation for their appeal. The documents referenced can change depending on the appeal filing type, reason(s) selected for appeal and filer type. If there appears to be an omission or discrepancy between the Attachments referenced in the online appeal application or those referenced in the CCAO Rules of Appeal, those referenced in the Rules will take precedence.

Submit Filer can complete and submit their appeal filing.

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My Filings - Filer can view the list of filings that they have either started and/or submitted via the online appeal application; any of these filings will be available for review by the filer at any time. Filer can also view their filings as Tiles or List.

Tile

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List

You will also be able to view the status of a specific created filing, including Filing Name, Filing ID (internal online appeal application filing number), date the filing was created and/or last modified, status of filing and key identifying components of that specific filing (most commonly Property Address, Property Index Number and/or Tax Year).

If the filing has not been completed, you will be able to go back and resume your filing by clicking on the appeal filing link.

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Message Center - Filer can view system generated messages based off of a submitted filing; confirmation of a submitted online appeal filing can be viewed here at any time.

Please note that you will not be able to initiate messages to CCAO via the application.

You can view the received message per filing by selecting a row on the grid.

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Account - Filer can view, edit or deactivate their account.

Sign Out - Filer can sign out of the application.

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FILING AN ONLINE APPEAL Log into the online appeal application at any time by entering the URL into your browser of choice and hit enter.


Select the applicable Appeal Filing form based on your property type.

Please note that the available appeal filing types are as follows:

• Real Estate Assessed Valuation Appeal – Commercial • Real Estate Assessed Valuation Appeal – Condo/Coop (please note that this filing form must be used for

both Commercial and Residential Condominiums) • Real Estate Assessed Valuation Appeal – Incentive • Real Estate Assessed Valuation Appeal – Residential • Real Estate Assessed Valuation Appeal – Vacant Land

If your filing is for an Omitted Assessment, please select the correct filing type based on property class above. Then, on the “Appeal Application” tab under “Reason for Appeal,” please check the box for Other and write “Omitted assessment” in the box that appears. Upload any relevant documents in the Attachments section. Be sure to file anonymized versions of each document intended for an analyst.


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Real Estate Assessed Valuation Appeal – Residential

Click on the Real Estate Assessed Valuation Appeal – Residential link to begin an appeal filing on a Residential property.

You will be presented with the Real Estate Assessed Valuation Appeal Residential screen, where you will click on Begin Filing to proceed.

You can either enter their property index number (PIN) to begin their appeal filing or the address if PIN is unknown; partial addresses can be entered. Once either PIN or address is enter, click Search.

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Once Search is clicked, the application will produce search results based on your entry. If you enter a specific 14 digit PIN, the search results will only retrieve that PIN.

The Search Results grid displays the following information per PIN retrieved:

Start Filing When this link is clicked, the filer will be able to begin the appeal filing on the selected PIN.

PIN Property Index Number (PIN) of the Primary Subject PIN for appeal filing.

Owner Name Taxpayer of record on the PIN. Location Address Property location (situs) of the PIN.

Township Township in which the subject PIN is located in.

Twp. Open Date Township opening date for appeals (first date appeals can be filed on that township).

Twp. Close Date Township close date for appeals (last date appeals can be filed on that township).

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Search by PIN

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Search by Partial Address

Search by Full Address

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You can begin the appeal filing by clicking on Start Filing; you will receive a reminder message that an appeal can only be filed during that Township’s Open period. Click OK.

You will begin the filing with the Activity Window tab.

Activity Window

You can review information on the primary subject PIN, the relevant Township’s Open/Close dates, acknowledgement of reading and understanding the town’s open/close schedule and the CCAO Official Rules for Appeal (link provided) in the Activity Window.

Click Next to proceed.

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Please note that if at any point you decide to proceed without providing required data, you will receive a message indicating that the current or any preceding/subsequent tab(s) contains “invalid data” (this could be incorrect or missing data). [A.] You can either select “I’ll fix this now” and return to make the corrections required in the page [B.] or you can select “I’ll fix this later” and proceed to the next tab. The system will provide an error (red circle containing exclamation point) [C.] in the tab containing the error as a reminder; you will need to correct any system required data errors before being able to submit your filing.

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Verify Parcel

You can review the primary subject PIN and property location; filer will also receive an error message if they are in the wrong filing form type based on the PIN’s classification code.

If the Subject PIN has been issued a Real Property Income and Expense (RPIE) code, the code will also appear in this page.


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If you attempt to create a filing on the wrong filing form based on the classification code of the property, the system will provide an error message indicating the correct form to use to submit your appeal.

Please cancel the current filing and start your filing using the correct form in Available Filings. If you do not cancel the current form, although the system will allow you to proceed with adding information, you will not be able to submit the filing.

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Primary PIN

You can request a Certificate of Error (CoE) on the primary subject PIN.

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If any of the boxes are selected for the available CoE years, you will be required to submit a CoE form and documentation in support of your CoE request prior to clicking Submit at the end of the filing.


Additional PINs - Optional

You can add additional related PINs, as defined by the CCAO Appeal Rules, in the provided grid. Filer will also be able to request a CoE on the additional PINs. If you are not adding additional PINs to your filing, you can simply click Next to proceed.

Please note that this section is for additional related PINs and not for entering comparable properties; any parcels provided in reference to an appeal based on uniformity must be uploaded in the Comparables section of the Attachment tab.

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The grid below is a reference guide as to how to use the Additional PIN(s) grid; please note that all data must be inserted into the grid in a specific format, otherwise, you will receive errors on the entry or upload of data.

Column Label Description Sample

PIN Property Index Number of additional PIN(s) to be added to the filing. 01011001010000

Address Property location of additional PIN(s) to be added to the filing. 123 Main Street

Class Property classification of additional PIN(s) to be added to the filing. 203

AST YR Current assessment being appealed. 2020

CoE (AST YR – 1)

Assessment year for with a Certificate of Error (CoE) is being applied for; it is the current assessment year – minus one (1) year. 2019

CoE (AST YR – 2)

Assessment year for with a Certificate of Error (CoE) is being applied for; it is the current assessment year – minus two (2) years. 2018

CoE (AST YR – 3)

Assessment year for with a Certificate of Error (CoE) is being applied for; it is the current assessment year – minus three or four, in limited situations (3 or 4) years. 2017 and/or 2016

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Adding additional PINs to filing

There are several ways you can add additional PINs to your current filing. If you want to manually enter your additional PINs into the grid, you can click on the Add button, which will create a row for you to enter the PIN(s). This will be the method by which you will add additional PIN(s) to a Residential or Commercial Appeal Filing.

At this point, you can either enter the PIN, without dashes, into the first row on the grid:

Or you can click on the drop down arrow (see red circle) to select the PIN(s) from the list.

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Please note that this list will return all available PINs, therefore, you will need to use the Search box to refine your search.

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Once you find your additional PIN, click on the PIN row and click on Select; this populates the grid with the PIN, Address, Class and Assessment Year. You will be able to manually enter Yes or No if you want to apply for CoEs on the additional PIN(s). Click Next to proceed.

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Delete

To delete a PIN from the grid, simply select the row of the PIN you’d like to remove and click on the Delete button. This functionality applies to whatever method is used to enter additional PIN(s) to the filing.

In the Condo/Coop and Incentive Appeal Filing form, you will be able to use a downloadable spreadsheet to either manually enter additional PIN(s) into the document or you can copy and paste if from a separate document that you may have available.

Please note that all data must be inserted into the grid in a specific format, otherwise, you will receive errors on the entry or upload of data.

To download the spreadsheet, click on the Download button.

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You will be provided the option to download the form in either Excel or CSV format. Click on your preferred option.

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You will receive a message indicating whether you want to open or save the downloadable form; save the form in your local drive and open it.

When you open the form, there will be 5 columns that must be filled out completely and correctly in order to be able to successfully upload the form back into the application. Make sure to change the data format to TEXT prior to updating the spreadsheet.

Please use the table on the following page for an explanation of what each column means and the required format for each entry.

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Column Label Description Format for CSV/EXCEL

LLINE

Number of additional PINs being added to the filing, in numerical order. The number should always start with two (2) and up to two thousand (2,000) PINs can be uploaded per spreadsheet

2 3 4 5 6 7

PIN

Additional contiguous or related PINs, as defined by the CCAO Appeal Rules, which are being added to the current appeal filing. Additional PINs must be added in Text format and should not have any hyphens or special characters.

01011000010000 01011000020000 01011000030000 01011000040000 01011000050000 01011000060000 01011000070000

CoE (AST YR – 1)

Assessment year for with a Certificate of Error (CoE) is being applied for; it is the current assessment year – minus one (1) year. Filer must enter Yes or Y if they are applying for CoE on that PIN; No or N should be entered if no CoE is being applied for on the additional PIN.

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

CoE (AST YR – 2)

Assessment year for with a Certificate of Error (CoE) is being applied for; it is the current assessment year – minus two (2) years. Filer must enter Yes or Y if they are applying for CoE on that PIN; No or N should be entered if no CoE is being applied for on the additional PIN.

No No No No No No

CoE (AST YR – 3)

Assessment year for with a Certificate of Error (CoE) is being applied for; it is the current assessment year – minus three or four, in limited situations (3 or 4) years. Filer must enter Yes or Y if they are applying for CoE on that PIN; No or N should be entered if no CoE is being applied for on the additional PIN.

No No No No No No

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Once the data has been entered or copied from an alternative source if available, it should look like the example below.

Resave on your drive and go back to the Additional PINs tab; click on the Upload button.

You will be prompted to find the just saved spreadsheet to upload into the application.

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Select the file and click Open.

If the spreadsheet was filled correctly, you should have successfully uploaded the additional PIN(s) into the grid. You can upload up to 2,000 PINs by using the upload function.

If there are errors on the spreadsheet, you will not be able to upload the document and will be prompted to correct the data errors prior to re-upload.

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Filer

As a filer, you will be able to file as either an Attorney/Tax Representative or a Taxpayer Owner; depending on your selection from the dropdown, you will be required to provide different information.

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Pro Se Filer

If you are filing as a Taxpayer/Owner, you may select to appeal as an Executor of an estate (requires documentation), Former Taxpayer/Owner Liable for Tax (in the event of a CoE Filing only – not yet available), Taxpayer/Owner and Tenant Liable for Tax.

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If you select Taxpayer/Owner, you can have your Taxpayer of Record information auto-populated from your information on record. Click on the “hamburger” icon.

This will provide a list of the last known Taxpayer of Record or Assesse as seen in your Assessment Notice. Click on the row that references your name and click Select.

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This will auto-populate the Taxpayer/Owner section of your filing.

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If your name does not appear on the grid, you can update your information by checking the box, which will require you to populate the taxpayer information. Please note that this information will not update the Taxpayer of Record/Tax Bill Mailing information, which must be done through the Cook County Treasurer’s Office.


Attorney/Tax Representative Filer

If you select Attorney/Tax Representation, please note that you will be required to upload an executed Attorney Authorization form in the Attachments tab prior to clicking the Submit button at the end of the filing. This form must be submitted at the time of initial filing and cannot be filed with CCAO at a later time. Please note that you will also be required to have an active code with Board of Review or CCAO in order to file an appeal as either Attorney or Tax Representative.

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You can either enter your code directly into the Attorney/Tax Representative Code Number field or click on the “hamburger” icon to select your code from a list. Please note that knowingly misrepresenting yourself, filing false or fraudulent information with the Assessor’s office with the intent to defeat or evade the law in relation to the assessment of property is a Class A misdemeanor under section 25-40 of the Property Tax Code, 35 ILCS 200/25-40.

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If you click the “hamburger” icon, this will provide a list of all registered Attorneys and/or Tax Representatives.

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Click on your code to highlight the row and click on Select.

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This will auto-populate the Attorney/Tax Representative section of your filing.

As an Attorney/Tax Representative, you will also be required to provide the information of the Taxpayer/Owner you are representing. Please see steps above in the Pro Se Filer section for more details.


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Property Characteristics – Residential Filing Only

You will be able to update any characteristics that are either incorrect or need to be updated for Residential Property Filings only. Once you have made any updates, click on Next to proceed.

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Appeal Application

You can indicate the reason(s) for your appeal and provide a brief explanation to add specificity to the reason(s) used. Please note that depending on the reason selected for your appeal, you may be required to provide additional documentation (see CCAO Rules for Appeal).

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Selection of Reason(s) for Appeal with field for brief explanation.

You can also request a field check as part of your appeal and will be required to provide a brief explanation for the request. Please note that not all requests for Field Check will be honored and sometimes unrequested field checks may be triggered based on the reason for appeal selected and/or supporting documentation.

Click on Next to proceed.

Attachments

You can upload and attach required and/or supporting documentation for your appeal and request for CoE. The documents referenced can change depending on the appeal filing type, reason(s) selected for appeal and filer type.

If there appears to be an omission or discrepancy between the Attachments referenced in the online appeal application or those referenced in the CCAO Rules of Appeal, those referenced in the Rules will take precedence.

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Each Attachment type provides information regarding the maximum size of the attachment, maximum total of attachments per category and file types accepted.

Please note that if an individual attachment is larger than the maximum size available, please break up your document into no more than 10 individual parts and upload them separately. Make sure to include in the name of your document what part of the total that particular portion is (example: 1 of 5).

Once you have completed uploading your required and/or supporting documents, please click Next to proceed.

Submit

Once you have completely filled out all of the required sections of your filing and attached all of the documents in support of your appeal and/or CoE filing, you will be able to submit your appeal filing.

Please be advised that once you have clicked Submit, you will not be able to make changes or add additional documentation to the present filing. If your Township is not yet closed and you have time to acquire documentation in support of your filing, CCAO recommends you save your filing and submit it once all of your information is available. Draft filings are always available for review in the My Filings section of your account.

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Type your name as your Electronic Signature and provide a reachable phone number. You will still be able to Cancel and/or Print Draft of your filing for review prior to clicking Submit.

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You will receive a message indicating whether you would like to submit your filing; at this point, once again, if you do not have all of your required documentation, your Township is still open and you think you will be able to acquire your documentation prior to Town Close date, it is recommended that you instead save your filing to return to complete at a later time.

It will be your responsibility as the Filer to return to complete the filing if it is saved in the My Filings section; you will not receive any reminder from CCAO or from the online appeal application.

Click on Yes if you want to submit your filing.

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Once you have clicked Yes, you will receive a confirmation message indicating that your filing was submitted.

You will also receive an email with the same information to the email address that you used for registration purposes. You will be able to access your filing directly by clicking on the link in the filing:

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Or going to the My Filings section of your account:

IMPORTANT NOTE:

Please note that the Filing ID reference in the confirmation message, email or even as found in the My Filings section is not your Appeal Docket Number and is merely an online appeal application auto-generated number. You will be receiving a subsequent email with the CCAO Appeal Docket Number or this can be retrieved from the PIN search functionality in our website.

registering in the online appeal site€¦ · once you have completed the registration process in...

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